Bob
and Kolleen planned a scramble
in the Teanaway area and I tagged along. Esmerelda, Iron, Navaho,
Miller, Iron Bear, Jester, and now DeRoux. I seem to be spending most
of the spring and early summer in the Teanaway. We reached the DeRoux
trailhead at 9:35 am and were on the trail soon after. No other cars in
the lot when we arrived. Perfect hiking conditions. Blue sky and cool
but still short sleeve weather. When I scrambled Esmerelda Peak from
this trailhead four weeks earlier we had to climb over half a dozen
logs in the first quarter mile. Now they have all been cleared.

Just across the bridge over the NF Teanaway River is the big meadow. It
was just starting to fill with blooming shooting stars before but now
it is an acre of them. I waited for the return to stop for photos.
Several other large logs before the crossing of DeRoux Creek were also
cleared. No snow down low now too. One big log just over head at the
trail junction was still there. We took the left trail and headed
uphill to the saddle between Koppen and DeRoux Peaks. It had been eight
years since I had been on this trail. That was on my first and only
scramble up DeRoux
Peak. Bob and Kolleen had never
been to the summit.

The trail is for horses and graded very gently. Long easy switchbacks
up the slope. The trail is in pretty good condition. There was only one
spot with trees down across the trail. There were several big ones. At
the same place there are several more big logs that fell and were
cleared years earlier. We scooted over the logs and kept going. The two
chichuahas just went under all the impediments. Those dogs climbed all
the way on their own, trail and off trail. Just before the saddle is a
rock that resembles Mt. Stuart. Bob ascended Baby Stuart.

It was just under three miles to the saddle. There was a little snow in
forest before reaching the saddle but very little. It will be gone in a
week. We took a break looking far down the ridge at DeRoux
Peak. It is really just a high point on the ridge. On the way there are
a number of ups and downs. We gained only 1200' reaching the 5000'
saddle. The summit is at 6260'. My feeble recollection of the route was
taking an animal track below the first bump then sidehilling on almost
non existent trail before giving up and climbing straight up to the
ridge. On the way back I stayed on the ridge and had no trouble at all.

We started out by climbing the ridge over the first bump and dropping
down to the next saddle. Up again and then down. There were some snow
patches on the right side below the ridge but none on the sunny left
side. Some glacier lilies, lupine, Indian paintbrush, plus a number
more wildflowers. Not a bad flower show at all. The scrambling was
steep
in a few places with some loose scree but for the most part it was not
bad at all. We traversed from right to left at least half a dozen
times. The summit went in and out of sight and did not seem to be
getting much closer. It was getting warm but a cool breeze kept us
comfortable.

Views improved with elevation. Koppen was behind us. Iron and Teanaway
Peaks across the valley. Mt. Stuart came into view. Esmerelda
still has quite a bit of snow even a month after I was up there.
Hawkins Mountain is the king of the area. Not far away and big with two
main summits. At long last we reached the final ridge. A few steps up
snow brought us back onto the ridge top. The snow along the summit
ridge was the most we saw all day. Looking at the back side of DeRoux
from Esmerelda and Hawkins the rock is bright red. When on the summit
it is really bright red.

It was already 12:45 pm when we reached the summit. A coat was in order
as he wind was cold but it was very pleasant in the bright sunshine.
Jolly Mountain came out from behind Skookum where it had been hidden
all day. The views are really pretty exceptional. From Rainier to
Stuart and the Cascade crest. For such a relatively low peak the views
are among the best in the Teanaway area. We spent a half hour on top
and then headed down. Not a fast descent with the ups and downs but a
whole lot easier than the ascent. I thought it might be a knee grinder
but it was not bad at all. The last bump before the saddle now has a
track around it so we did not stay on the crest here.

We chopped off 20 minutes vs. our time up from the saddle. The gentle
trail down was easy on our knees. Just below the big downed trees we
met a horse party. They carried a chain saw. We heard the saw from
quite a distance. They had removed the logs at the junction. I'm sure
they took care of the big logs across the trail. It should be
completely clear now to the saddle. They were the first people we saw
all day. We saw another group farther down. Two groups is more than I
have been seeing this spring/summer but not bad at all. I'm sure there
were 90 cars at the Ingalls trailhead only a few miles up the road. The
high was forecast to be in the mid 60s at the trailhead but it was over
70. Warm but still not hot. Perfect hiking conditions all day long.

It was fun to be out on the trail with Bob and Kolleen again. We had
not hiked together since last year. We carried ice axes but never came
close to needing them. The snow on all the surrounding peaks did
wonders for photography. By July most years the Teanaway peaks are
uniformly brown. Not this year. For the day we hiked and scrambled 9
miles with 2900' of gain. A fine day in the mountains.